Stoke-by-Nayland School Street blaze prompts neighbour fears

Firefighters from Suffolk and Essex, including Nayland, Sudbury, Colchester and Hadleigh, were called to a house blaze in School Street, Stoke-by-Nayland, at 6.43pm. 

Police and the East of England Ambulance Service were also in attendance and fire crews remained at the scene as of 10am on Saturday to keep watch in case of further hot-spotting. 

The shell of the home extension, which was surrounded by scaffolding (Image: Newsquest) Sara Waterson, who lives two doors down from the home, said by the time she got outside there were multiple fire engines already on the scene and, while she wasn't worried the flames would spread to her home, she was worried for the safety of her neighbours. 

"The raging fire, three stories high, was blowing across the road and there were four or five fire hoses trained on the house opposite, and that next to it, which are part of the Maltings," she said.

The Maltings is a historic, Grade II*-listed beamed building directly opposite the site which caught fire.

"I was extremely worried the Maltings would catch fire. It would have been a tragedy if that had happened," Ms Waterson added.

School Street was closed on Saturday (Image: Newsquest) Michele Bradshaw, who lives in the detached home next to the building that caught light, said: "It the most terrible thing I've ever seen in my life."

Ms Bradshaw explained she first learned of the fire when she spotted smoke out of her window, but did not think much of it until she saw it begin to plume into the sky and a crowd gather outside.

"You could see flames and smoke in the extension and the sound of what I think was breaking glass," she said.

"Then there was a gush of wind and it all took off. It was terrifying. I felt it was surreal and I thought 'this is all in the hands of god.'"

Ms Bradshaw offered one of her neighbours, whose home has been sprayed with water by firefighters to avoid it catching light, a place to stay for the night.

"It does bring people together," she said.

"My neighbour came to stay with me and some other people put up some of the others. People really couldn't do enough and were really wonderful."

The firefighters at the blaze in Stoke by Nayland (Image: Micha Eden Erdesz) Paul Cooper, who lives in the village and is a gardener for several properties in the area, praised the community spirit in the village.

"It looks like everyone was sorted last night as we all know one another and have rallied around," he said.

He explained the windows of one resident's home opposite the fire were "burning hot" and "being hit with glowing embers" and their garden now "looks like Pompeii". 

He said the residents were evacuated and the firemen soaked the houses to avoid them catching fire.

One residents' doorbell had started to melt from the heat and set in a different shape, Mr Cooper added.